Interview With Foxing Singer Conor Murphy

American band Foxing are about to head down to Australia for their first tour of the land down under. With now three highly regarded albums under their belt the band has been gaining more and more attention from both fans and music critics alike. We were lucky enough to chat with vocalist Conor Murphy as he shares his excitement ahead of the tour.

SCENEzine
Huge congrats on your newest album Nearer My God. You must be proud of how it turned out?

Conor Murphy
Yeah it’s definitely the most proud I’ve ever been of anything I’ve ever been a part of working on. I think the same goes for everybody that worked on it. We are absolutely thrilled with how it turned out, we couldn’t of asked for anything more. It’s been a really cool thing to watch it unfold because we were extremely happy with it. It’s the best thing that we could make but we were afraid that maybe people wouldn’t like it but the reception on it has been great.

SCENEzine
It must also be pretty humbling to know the album was included in many best albums of 2018 lists?

Conor Murphy
Oh unbelievably so. All three of our records got on somebody’s end of year list. People that like our band included it because they like our band. But this is the first time that we’ve seen a lot of people that say things like hey I really didn’t like this band before but on this record I actually gave them a shot and was really surprised by it. We keep going back to this thing where a lot of close friends of ours admitted to us saying honestly they never really liked the stuff that we made but supported us because they are our friends. But this is the first record that they have actually enjoyed what we made. Which seems like a back handed compliment but in reality it’s the coolest thing you can ever hear. Hearing someone say that new thing you made is their favourite thing that you’ve made is a huge compliment.

SCENEzine
We really love the title track “Nearer My God”. What does that song mean to you?

Conor Murphy
I think that song is by far the most self referential thing that we have made. It’s a really inward look at what we actually want out of music or what we think we want, or just out of a career in general. Every night that we play that song I tend to say a similar thing dedicating it to anybody that has had a creative endeavour that hasn’t turned out the way that they thought. That’s kind of what that songs all about, feeling totally let down by a creative endeavour. We’ve never been more proud of our band but there’s always this aspect where we wish it was this other thing. I wish it was cooler or that more people liked it. I wish that it was a career that supported me and my family. It’s the only song so far that every night I sing it I really feel it.

SCENEzine
Another favourite of ours is “Heartbeats”. Musically was that a challenge to put that song together?

Conor Murphy
Yeah that has been one of the most revised songs in the bands discography. We really changed it so much every time we would make it. When it started Eric and I were in this basement playing it together and really getting into it, we loved what we were doing.

I accidentally messed up the drum beat and it ended up being this really weird thing that it is now. Along the way the drumbeat wasn’t really working for us but we just kept coming back to it. But that song by far is my favourite thing that we’ve ever put together. Chris Walla who produced the record spearheaded that song so we trusted him and it turned out great. The most proud I’ve ever been of something.

SCENEzine
What was the experience like making the video for “Heartbeats”?

Conor Murphy
We mapped out two videos in the same four or five day span. Josh Coll who played bass in our band he directed both of those videos. So we shot both of them at the same time. For that one we were just on this beach in New Jersey and it was this strange experience of getting inebriated, out of my mind fucked up and dancing on a beach for a while. Whilst everyone in the crew was following that same directive (laughs) basically everybody was having a great time. I don’t want to incriminate anybody on the crew but everybody was having a great time and I was just dancing. It was really cool Josh put it all together and made it into something great. A really simple idea turned into a video that keeps you watching the whole time, which I love.

SCENEzine
It’s not long until you’ll be touring in Australia. You must be excited to get down here?

Conor Murphy
Oh my god, yeah! We are so close to getting to come there and we can not be more excited. None of us have ever been to Australia, it’s a place that all of us have always dreamed of going to. So to say that we are excited is a total understatement. Honestly a drem come true.

SCENEzine
Have you had a chance to check out the lineup for Farmer & The Owl festival?

Conor Murphy
Yeah Snail Mail are playing who we’ve actually played with before. We played with her when we were in Brooklyn right after she put out her first single. We can’t wait to see her again, there’s a lot of great bands playing that we are looking forward to.

SCENEzine
Are there any tourist things you want to do while in Australia?

Conor Murphy
I’d love to hold a koala and be held by a kangaroo. We want to play with some animals for sure. Other than that seeing the beautiful land and beaches.

SCENEzine
What can people expect from a Foxing live show?

Conor Murphy
Well it always gets a little wild when we play. We add so much stuff into our recordings that we can’t really replicate live so to make up for that we usually try to throw us much energy as we can into our live performance. A lot of the time the feedback that we get is it’s a lot crazier than people expect. We pretty much come out of every show that we play extremely exhausted and ready to sleep. Hopefully that translates into a fun performance to watch.

SCENEzine
What’s the feeling like you get seeing people in the crowd sing your words back to you?

Conor Murphy
It’s always a really insane experience, especially when we’ve never been to the city or country. So I’m looking forward to Australia because it’s this weird thing that you never really expect anybody in a country outside of your own to know your music. So looking out and seeing people singing along is always a very confusing experience. Every time it happens it’s great, we are elated and amazed by it.

SCENEzine
Lastly do you have a message for your Aussie fans?

Conor Murphy
Yeah we are coming for you, we are so excited. We can not wait to be there. My main message for our Aussie fans is we are huge fans of your accents and we can’t wait to see you.

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